Years of service 1911–1945 Service/branch Reichswehr | Name Rudolf Toussaint | |
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Battles/wars World War IWorld War II | ||
Rudolf Toussaint (2 May 1891 – 1 July 1968) was a German Army officer. Toussaint saw action in both World Wars, while during World War II he was appointed Commissioner of the German army in the office of the Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia (Wehrmachtsbevollmächtigte beim Reichsprotektor in Böhmen und Mähren).
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Biography
He was born on 2 May 1891 in Egglkofen. He joined the Royal Bavarian Army on 21 September 1911 in the rank of Fahnenjunker (cadet). After finishing basic training, he received was commissioned a Leutnant (second lieutenant) on 25 October 1913 and assigned to the 18th Royal Bavarian Infantry Regiment. He fought in World War I, where he was wounded, and was awarded the Iron Cross (First Class) and the Iron Cross (2nd class) in 1914. After the war, he remained in the army and, on 1 December 1935 was promoted to Oberstleutnant; on 1 April 1938 he was promoted further to the rank of Oberst (colonel). From 1 April 1939 till 1941 he served as a military attaché in the German embassy in Rome. After that, he was promoted on 1 October 1941 on to Generalmajor, and on 1 October 1942, to Generalleutnant.
In September 1943 as General der Infanterie (promoted on 1 September 1943) he became commissioner of the German army in Italy (Bevollmächtigter General der deutschen Wehrmacht in Italien). On 26 July 1944 he was replaced in this position by SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Wolff and Toussaint became commissioner of the German army in the office of the Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, replacing Ferdinand Schaal, and simultaneously held the position of Commander of the Military District of Bohemia and Moravia. As such he was the final Nazi commander of Prague. After World War II, he was captured by US troops in Pilsen and on 19 April 1947 transferred into Czechoslovakia, where on 26 October 1948 he was condemned to life imprisonment for the murder of civilians in the Prague uprising.
In 1955, he agreed to collaborate with Czechoslovak State Security, but the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia refused to consent to his release from prison. While still in prison, he provided them information relating to the West German military leaders and political figures, In 1961, as part of an exchange for two communist agents, he was released to West Germany, where he died in 1968.